Fasting 12 hours every night is a good idea for basically everyone. Meaning if you finish eating at 8pm, then don’t eat the next morning until 8am.
Most people are completely fine experimenting with a 12-16 hour fast as well.
Implementing a 12-16 hour fast can be a great tool for fat loss because it can help you eat less calories putting you in a caloric deficit. But the danger comes in when you are constantly eating too few calories therefore slowing down your metabolism.
So, when you implement fasting don’t do it all the time and don’t do it excessively so as to keep your metabolism fast.
If you want to go longer than a 16 hour fast, then there may be some benefits for insulin sensitivity and autophagy but know that if done excessively you may lose muscle mass and slow down your metabolism.
I’d recommend that if you’re doing 16+ hour fasts, then do them periodically, not religiously.
Lastly, now this is not my area of expertise, but some believe and have shown that fasting can have negative side effects to female hormone levels. This is something that I plan on exploring and learning more about in the near future.
In addition, if you are pregnant, fasting is not a good idea for you.
And as always, seek out your primary care doctor before making any big changes.
I hope today provides you with some more insight into fasting. Why you might do it or not do it, who it might be for, and how long to do it or not do it.
I think fasting can be great for some and not great for others.
Like anything with our health there is not a one-size-fits-all approach.
It always depends. Context and personalization is required.
To getting closer to your Best You,